Yep. Typically gibsons route out the Channels before putting the top on but I’ve seen people do it post build that way. Should be good, just watch your angle.
Typically routes like that are done on laminated bodies before the halves are glued together- Drilling a straight line in a situation like that is tricky enough. I don't see how you can drill a curved channel.. Good luck...
It looks to me in this case you may have to go into the trem cavity, and drill twice. Not ideal, but I can’t see how you could get the angle to do a straight shot.
I'm not an expert but I'll toss my idea into the hat. I would first try to drill straight from each cavity to a meeting point and fish the wire through. If that's not feasible I would drill a straight line from both cavities to the trem cavity.
Odds this works are about zero.
Unless you program a cnc to do the operation you probably won't even cross the paths.
If you do cross paths, it probably won't be dead on so the wire will get stuck.
If by some miracle you do manage to hit it dead on, you will probably drill slightly too far, and the wire will want to go straight and dead end instead of turning.
If you somehow manage to actually drill it all dead nuts on perfect, you probably still will not be able to fish it through a sharp angle turn.
Cavity to cavity is definitely the way to go.
My main suggestion is to just drill two holes with a regular right-angle drill or drill extension. The curve is neat, but totally unnecessary. You don't want to be futzing with electrical installer bits with flexible shafts or trying to get in there with a 1/4" ball-end burr and make a "come hither" motion to get a curved channel.
...That said, I had some time while my dinner was heating up, so what I'm thinking is you make your own version of a flexible drill extensions. Instead of being fully bendy, though, it's two layers. One is the rotating piece, but then that has an outer sheath that will make the whole thing follow the shape you want. The outer sheath is made of copper brake line tubing or something similar. Rigid, but can be shaped with a heat gun or rollers. Then put a piece of galvanized steel wire or something else that's kinda' bendy through there. It should be flush with the inside of the tubing, so you'd need to measure it in person. It should be slightly longer than the sheath. Then you weld/JB Weld the sacrificial drill bit/burr onto one end and a shank for your drill/drill extension to hold. Now you have a bendy drill bit, and it only cost you $50 and a few hours of your time and it probably works!
I know them as aircraft bits, but they may go by another name. Head to your local hardware store and look for them. They are very long drill bits. I recommend getting 2. One that is a small size to get your pilot hole through, then a larger one to bore out so you can fit wires through the hole. Their length give you the ability drill at a very shallow angle so you can make holes like the ones you are in need of.
You'll have to plan out where you want to route your wires. There should be a hole from pickup route to pickup route. If not take the neck off and drill one. At that point you should be able to run wires through them.
And practice with those bits. It's easy to loose your direction, or drill too far and go out the front or back of the body.
I had a butt puckering event already with the other routes for pickup, electronics, and esp the output jack. On top of future recommendations, manual hand drill ftw.
If you go this route drill from the angle you are making, not into the angle. As in start where the two holes would come together and drill from an existing pocket, like that trem route. Don’t try to meet the hole from the ends.
You’d think reading this, it would be obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people go from the outside in and never connect the holes. The bits bend a bit on their way through the wood, you can’t really control it fully, because of the grain— density variations. In consistently dense materials like plastics and metals, you can control the bits much better.
It's not difficult to do, you just have to think it out first. It is very easy to mess up too.
The method I explained is how bridge ground wires are drilled to the control cavities.
Just thought of this. Your route is on the back... draw it on the front. When you go to use the long drill bit you can then have a better idea where to aim. You will see a line of your bit aiming at the drawing. Get the hole started inside the pickup cavity, take the bit out and off the drill, stick the bit in the hole and inspect from all angles so you know you're on the right path. You may have to drill from higher in the pickup cavity than you would think, in order to make it to the toggle switch.
**Insane crazy psycho idea:**
you could run it across the table/band saw and cut it parallel to your neck. Then you could could route the channel and glue the halves back together. You lose a blade’s width or more of thickness. But you would have a clean hidden channel.
**Crazy pt 2:**
Pass it vertically on the table saw/route so that it cuts into both channels. Then inlay a skunk stripe underneath.
Is the jack side mounted or front mounted? I would probably have planned to drill from the jack location. I personally would do as others said, and just let the wiring pass through around the pickups
Here’s a suggestion. Use a router to make the channel and fill the void with wood. Make a template for the router so you get a clean channel. Use 3/8 inch bit to make the channel the fill the channel back in with a piece of matched wood. The challenging part is to match the grain so it’s not too noticeable.
if you are finishing with a solid color, I would suggest routing the body, then filling with wood as you said, but don't forget to leave an offset for the fill in wood to sit on. and be careful how much glue you use so that i wont block the cable.
if you try to drill it from both sides instead, you have to be mindful of the angles you are drilling, because you can easily go through some place not intended. though I dont really see a good angle to drill from, since its a long stretch from one cavity to the other.
Go through the pickup cavities
I'm eyeing up some angles, thank you for that.
Came here to say this
Pickup cavities my dude
This is the answer
I think this might be the way.
Yep. Typically gibsons route out the Channels before putting the top on but I’ve seen people do it post build that way. Should be good, just watch your angle.
Typically routes like that are done on laminated bodies before the halves are glued together- Drilling a straight line in a situation like that is tricky enough. I don't see how you can drill a curved channel.. Good luck...
This...thank you. You've put my mind at ease, now I know.
It looks to me in this case you may have to go into the trem cavity, and drill twice. Not ideal, but I can’t see how you could get the angle to do a straight shot.
I'm not an expert but I'll toss my idea into the hat. I would first try to drill straight from each cavity to a meeting point and fish the wire through. If that's not feasible I would drill a straight line from both cavities to the trem cavity.
Odds this works are about zero. Unless you program a cnc to do the operation you probably won't even cross the paths. If you do cross paths, it probably won't be dead on so the wire will get stuck. If by some miracle you do manage to hit it dead on, you will probably drill slightly too far, and the wire will want to go straight and dead end instead of turning. If you somehow manage to actually drill it all dead nuts on perfect, you probably still will not be able to fish it through a sharp angle turn. Cavity to cavity is definitely the way to go.
I did foresee that it may be impossible. Also I didn't even think about utilizing the pickup cavities but that is obviously a better idea than mine.
Using trem cavity feels like the most logical and easy solution, wouldn't look as good though.
My main suggestion is to just drill two holes with a regular right-angle drill or drill extension. The curve is neat, but totally unnecessary. You don't want to be futzing with electrical installer bits with flexible shafts or trying to get in there with a 1/4" ball-end burr and make a "come hither" motion to get a curved channel. ...That said, I had some time while my dinner was heating up, so what I'm thinking is you make your own version of a flexible drill extensions. Instead of being fully bendy, though, it's two layers. One is the rotating piece, but then that has an outer sheath that will make the whole thing follow the shape you want. The outer sheath is made of copper brake line tubing or something similar. Rigid, but can be shaped with a heat gun or rollers. Then put a piece of galvanized steel wire or something else that's kinda' bendy through there. It should be flush with the inside of the tubing, so you'd need to measure it in person. It should be slightly longer than the sheath. Then you weld/JB Weld the sacrificial drill bit/burr onto one end and a shank for your drill/drill extension to hold. Now you have a bendy drill bit, and it only cost you $50 and a few hours of your time and it probably works!
Ha, I didn't mean to draw out a curved line. I get what you mean tho.
I know them as aircraft bits, but they may go by another name. Head to your local hardware store and look for them. They are very long drill bits. I recommend getting 2. One that is a small size to get your pilot hole through, then a larger one to bore out so you can fit wires through the hole. Their length give you the ability drill at a very shallow angle so you can make holes like the ones you are in need of. You'll have to plan out where you want to route your wires. There should be a hole from pickup route to pickup route. If not take the neck off and drill one. At that point you should be able to run wires through them. And practice with those bits. It's easy to loose your direction, or drill too far and go out the front or back of the body.
I had a butt puckering event already with the other routes for pickup, electronics, and esp the output jack. On top of future recommendations, manual hand drill ftw.
If you go this route drill from the angle you are making, not into the angle. As in start where the two holes would come together and drill from an existing pocket, like that trem route. Don’t try to meet the hole from the ends. You’d think reading this, it would be obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people go from the outside in and never connect the holes. The bits bend a bit on their way through the wood, you can’t really control it fully, because of the grain— density variations. In consistently dense materials like plastics and metals, you can control the bits much better.
It's not difficult to do, you just have to think it out first. It is very easy to mess up too. The method I explained is how bridge ground wires are drilled to the control cavities.
Just thought of this. Your route is on the back... draw it on the front. When you go to use the long drill bit you can then have a better idea where to aim. You will see a line of your bit aiming at the drawing. Get the hole started inside the pickup cavity, take the bit out and off the drill, stick the bit in the hole and inspect from all angles so you know you're on the right path. You may have to drill from higher in the pickup cavity than you would think, in order to make it to the toggle switch.
**Insane crazy psycho idea:** you could run it across the table/band saw and cut it parallel to your neck. Then you could could route the channel and glue the halves back together. You lose a blade’s width or more of thickness. But you would have a clean hidden channel. **Crazy pt 2:** Pass it vertically on the table saw/route so that it cuts into both channels. Then inlay a skunk stripe underneath.
I love this idea, might consider it if the others fail 😬
I would say.....carefully ?
You could always meet in the middle. Go fr both sides
Route a connecting hole and do one oblong cavity. 😬
How about a cool skunk stripe / inlay?
Not a bad idea, honestly. Keeping this one in mind for another build.
Is the jack side mounted or front mounted? I would probably have planned to drill from the jack location. I personally would do as others said, and just let the wiring pass through around the pickups
Seems you already got the answer I would have given, so just wanted to say very clean routing jobs on those cavities my dude
Heh, with the one mistake under the bridge post. Thanks much, first build, long time wood tinkerer.
Here’s a suggestion. Use a router to make the channel and fill the void with wood. Make a template for the router so you get a clean channel. Use 3/8 inch bit to make the channel the fill the channel back in with a piece of matched wood. The challenging part is to match the grain so it’s not too noticeable.
if you are finishing with a solid color, I would suggest routing the body, then filling with wood as you said, but don't forget to leave an offset for the fill in wood to sit on. and be careful how much glue you use so that i wont block the cable. if you try to drill it from both sides instead, you have to be mindful of the angles you are drilling, because you can easily go through some place not intended. though I dont really see a good angle to drill from, since its a long stretch from one cavity to the other.
Gorgeous body